GAY KNOWS AZTECS NEED THAMES ON COURT

Former San Diego State standout calls injured point guard ‘the brain of the team’

More optimistic was the injury report on Chase Tapley, whose sprained right wrist appears to be improving enough that he is expected to start against Boise State.

Tapley grew up with Thames in Sacramento and not having his wing man is killing him, no doubt. But he also accepts the cruel truths of their sport.

“The league is not going to stop, the games are not going to stop if a person’s out,” Tapley said. “We have to keep our heads up and keep on moving.”

Or as Fisher put it: “Nobody cares at the end, other than: Did you win? So that’s our focus.”

Fisher has a sympathetic soul in Boise State coach Leon Rice.

The Broncos were without 6-foot-2 junior guard Jeff Elorriaga for three games last month while he recovered from a concussion. Lost them all.

Elorriaga returned Saturday against UNLV. They won.

“I’ve never seen a guy that is so valuable in so many ways to his teammates,” Rice said. “He’s their emotional security blanket, I guess is what you’d call him. It’s not like he’s averaging 25 points per game and he’s an NBA player or anything like that. But he’s their emotional leader. He’s the quarterback of our team. Usually you see that in a point guard.

“When he was out, you don’t want our guys to feel like they couldn’t play without him. But it almost looked at times like we were a chicken with our heads cut off.”

“The stats only tell part of the story,” said UNLV coach Dave Rice, whose team never led in Saturday’s 77-72 loss in Boise. “There’s no doubt he gives that team a ton of confidence. And you could see that. They were a very confident group.”